Stevens High AP student goes on trial in slaying

A good student who took advanced placement classes at Stevens High, Jasjeet Singh gave no hint two years ago that he was about to shoot a classmate in the head as they skipped class together, a witness said Tuesday as Singh's murder trial began.

As a result of the October 2010 shooting, Brian Odipo, 17, was left helpless on the kitchen floor of Singh's West Bexar County home for more than 30 minutes as he gasped for air and convulsed in a pool of blood and brain matter, prosecutor David Lunan said during an opening statement.

Odipo, a Stevens High track standout originally from Kenya who had recently transferred to an alternative school, died two days later.

“The truth is I secretly hated Brian,” Singh, also 17 at the time, would later tell police, according to prosecutors. “He borrows money from everybody and never pays them back.”

But if Singh was angry with Odipo, he never showed it, said mutual friend Sean Quinn, who was also skipping class that day.

“When I walked in (to Singh's home), I was texting my girlfriend and had a headphone in my ear,” Quinn told jurors, explaining that he didn't know what the two had been talking about. “Brian Odipo is walking toward the kitchen and all I see is Jas pull a gun out.”

Singh fired from about 15 feet away, causing a gaping wound to Odipo's head, Quinn said. Singh then walked closer and shot him in the leg, Quinn told jurors in the 290th state District Court.

“What did I do?” Singh kept asking, Quinn said. The witness said he reluctantly joined Singh on a drive to tell another friend about the shooting.

Juan Barba, who had graduated from the same school the previous spring, was then picked up at work and brought to Singh's home, he said.

“I went up to Brian. I was crying, telling him please not to die on me,” Barba testified, adding that he thought it was strange Singh sought help from him because Barba was closer friends with the victim.

“I went outside and said we should call 911,” Barba recalled. “He didn't want to. He wanted to make up a story ... that somebody had broken into the house and shot him. I didn't say yes or no ... because I didn't want to get shot.”

Barba did call police, and took the first responder aside to identify Singh as the shooter soon after Singh tried to float the burglar story, he said.

Defense attorney John Convery didn't deny during opening statements that his client was the shooter. But he described Odipo as a “gun dealer” and appeared to hint that the shooting might have been an accident — the result of a “crappy weapon.”

“What these teens did afterward is what teens do: Panic,” Convery said. “Jasjeet is traumatized. He's apologizing to Brian Odipo. It's not a murder.”